Some members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are sharing copies of an unofficial commemorative coin that appears to mock the care of migrant children, according to a ProPublica story published Friday.
The report noted that members of the agency working at offices in California and Texas have been sharing the “challenge coin,” which is engraved on one side to show a crowd of migrant “caravans” with an inscription that reads “Keep the caravans coming.”
{mosads}The other side of the the coin has the words “processing,” “hospital,” “transport,” and “feeding” engraved in capital letters, with images of the functions.
The coin is engraved with the agency’s official logo.
ProPublica said that government officials said the coin was not approved or paid for by the government.
One unnamed official who confirmed its existence to ProPublica described it as a side project that had become popular among some agents.
“A lot of the agents have little hobbies on the side, they build little wooden figures that they have at their homes,” the official reportedly said, adding that the coin was “something that somebody’s doing on their free time.”
ProPublica noted it was unclear who had created the coin or how copies of it had circulated among some CBP agents.
CBP told ProPublica in a statement that the use of the coin would be investigated due to it featuring CBP’s logo.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has a firm policy on the use and production of challenge coins bearing CBP identifiers,” the agency said through a spokesperson. “The coin in question is not an officially approved CBP coin. CBP intends to investigate the matter and will make a determination when all the facts are known.”
CBP did not immediately reply to a request for comment from The Hill.
— Updated at 11:25 a.m.